Thread: Activist against unlimited immigration

Activist against unlimited immigration

By A.J. O'CONNELL
aoconnell@thestamfordtimes.com

DARIEN —There are a lot of people who do not agree with Paul Streitz.

The 64-year-old market researcher, author, and founder of Connecticut Citizens for Immigration Control [CTCIC], has been called a racist and his group has been called a hate group. His campaigns against any municipal, state or federal tolerance of illegal immigrants have drawn fire, and his statements have been ridiculed in the media.

But Streitz thinks of himself as a man sitting all alone on a beach, waving and screaming that a tsunami is on the way while other people ignore or shun him.

"It's a very difficult position to be in," he said.

That tsunami, according to Streitz, is a combination of massive immigration into the United States and free trade.

He doesn't accept the views of those who feel that since nearly the entire population of the U.S. is the product of immigrants, that immigration is good for the country.

"Just because you and I are descended from immigrants does not mean we should have unlimited immigration into this country," he said. Streitz is of German and Irish descent; his family arrived in the United States in the 1800s.

He points to the Immigration Act of 1924, which capped immigration at 150,000 a year and established quotas based on the national origins of the immigrants. Those quotas were discontinued in 1965.

Now, says Streitz, the country is getting 1.2 million and 1.4 million legal immigrants every year.

"That's 10 and 15 times the number of immigrants," he said. "Where are they going to get jobs? I see people being outsourced. I see factories moving to China."

Streitz wants to see the country do two things; he wants the United States' borders closed for 10 years to all immigrants — legal and illegal — and he wants the country to enforce existing employment laws.

"That is the key thing," he said.

Streitz was first alarmed by immigration in the summer of 2001, when he was looking at college options for his teenage daughter.

He says he was floored by the nation's economic situation; by the loss of jobs and by the amount of immigrants coming into the country. To Streitz, unchecked immigration spells disaster for the nation — the United States cannot support all the people who want to live here.

Streitz sprang into action. He wrote two books, "The Great American College Tuition Rip-off" and "America First," both published by his own publishing company, The Oxford Institute Press, and, in 2004 and 2006, ran for the U.S. Senate, failing to garner the GOP nomination each time.

He formed CTCIC in 2005 with Peter Gadiel, founder of 9/11 Families for a Secure America and Mary Long after meeting them at a hearing in Hartford. In fall of 2005, both Gadiel and Long withdrew from the group, saying Streitz was leading the group in a racially-charged direction. Both denounced a study CTCIC released, stated that Hispanics and undocumented workers were displacing whites and African Americans in McDonald's restaurants and which was based on observation but not interviews with those workers. Gadiel says he hasn't had any contact with Streitz for two years.

"I don't think Paul is a racist," said Gadiel, "But you can talk in ways that create perceptions. You start speaking out against immigration and people will think you're a racist anyway; Paul doesn't know how to talk without getting carried away."

Although Gadiel and Long are gone, Streitz says CTCIC's mailing list is some 400 addresses strong.

Streitz, who is a MinuteMan, also resists the implications that he is a racist — he has no problem with the immigrants themselves, he says. He understands why they would leave their homes to come to the U.S. for work. His problem, he said, is with the government and the corporations who do not enforce immigration laws; it is a crime, he said, for anyone to employ an illegal immigrant, but few are prosecuted for doing so.

"Let's enforce our laws," he said. "If we would do that, the problem would go away."


http://www.thestamfordtimes.com/stamfor ... 632280.php

Paul Streitz is OK by me. He seems to have his head screwed on straight regarding immigration and his perceptions are certainly accurate. Good luck, Mr. Streitz and keep up your good work.

People that are up front and put their names out there get bashed by the opposition and even reporters.

You just have to ignore that garbage. They have to be victims because they are wrong and they have to have a villan to validate themselves.

Dixie

I agree with him. Our immigration quota is too high. Combine that with the ones coming in illegally, this country cannot sustain that many people.